dining-room

dining-room — noun

1. a separate room inside a home, restaurant, or other building, furnished with a t

1.nounA1
Definition

a separate room inside a home, restaurant, or other building, furnished with a table and chairs, where people sit together to eat meals

Example

Linh's family gathers in the dining room every evening for a home-cooked meal.

prepositional phrase: in the dining room

The renovation team turned the dark hallway into a bright dining room.

used as object: into a dining room

Common collocations
  • dining room table
  • dining room chair
  • in the dining room
  • dining room set
  • formal dining room
Synonyms
  • dining area

    less formal; often refers to a part of a larger room rather than a separate room

  • eat-in kitchen

    a kitchen large enough to also contain a table for eating, not a separate dining room

  • dining hall

    a large room used for eating in institutions such as schools, dormitories, or hotels

Grammar Patterns

the dining room

in the dining room

Usage Note

The word is most often written as the open compound dining room (two words). The hyphenated form dining-room also appears, primarily in British English. It is a countable noun that typically takes the definite article when referring to a specific room.

Common Mistakes

I put the plates on the dining room.
I put the plates on the dining room table.
dining room refers to the room itself, not the table or other furniture inside it.
I cooked the rice in the dining room.
I cooked the rice in the kitchen.
confuse dining room (where you eat) with kitchen (where you cook).

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Dining room refers to a separate room dedicated to eating meals, most commonly in private homes. Dining area is a more flexible term that describes any space set aside for eating, which may be part of an open-plan kitchen or living room — it is often used in real-estate listings. An eat-in kitchen is a kitchen large enough to contain a table for meals, merging the functions of cooking and dining into one space. Dining hall describes a much larger room typically found in schools, university dormitories, hotels, or cruise ships, where many people eat together. For example: 'Their apartment has a separate dining room for formal dinners,' but 'The new dormitory has a dining hall that seats 300 students.'

dining areaeat-in kitchendining hall

Common collocations

Nouns

  • dining room table
  • dining room chair
  • dining room set
  • dining room furniture

Phrases

  • dining room and kitchen
  • living room and dining room

Prepositions

  • in the dining room
  • from the dining room
  • into the dining room

Etymology

Old FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

The word dining comes from the Old French verb 'disner' (to eat the main meal of the day). 'Room' comes from the Old English word 'rum' (space). The two words were first combined in the 16th century as wealthy households began setting aside a separate space for eating, rather than using the same hall for both cooking and dining.